"This is a horrific day. We lost two exceptionally fine officers today," Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said. They were the first police officers to die in the line of duty in Santa Cruz's history. - Photos

A marine science instructor snorkeling off the Southern California coast spotted something out of a fantasy novel: a silvery, 18-foot-long, serpent-like sea creature. Jasmine Santana of the Catalina Island Marine Institute needed more than 15 helpers to drag the giant oarfish with eyes the size of half dollars to shore. - Video

Jodi Ann Arias, 32, was convicted of slashing her ex-boyfriend's throat and shooting him in the face while they were in his Mesa, Ariz., house. Arias was born in Salinas and just days before she murdered Travis Alexander, she visited her ex-boyfriend at his house in Monterey. - Photos / Video

A private party hosted at Richard Pepe's Vesuvio restaurant in downtown Carmel featured a lingerie fashion show. At a City Council meeting, Carmel resident Carolyn Hardy urged city leaders to stop the party from happening because she believed the risque event threatened to change the character of Carmel. Hardy labeled the party's models as "sluts" and "whores." - Video

A Castroville baby who went missing after a family friend claimed he took her to Disneyland was found dead outside Salinas. A statewide Amber Alert was never issued for baby Angelle Jenisis Negron. - Photos / Video

Napster co-founder Sean Parker's lavish, $10-million Big Sur wedding just got even more expensive. The California Coastal Commission and Parker reached a $2.5 million settlement to pay for coastal conservation programs after Parker built a large movie-set like wedding site in an ecologically sensitive area of Big Sur. - Video

"Standing here at the base to Pfeiffer Ridge and hearing propane tanks blowing up and seeing the ugly thick dark smoke indicating more properties have been destroyed. It's the saddest moment imaginable," Big Sur resident Toby-Rowland Jones said. The number of homes destroyed increased to 34 before the blaze was controlled.